Matcha Tea and Caffeine - A Horror Story

I tried drinking Matcha tea for the first time last night. Put a heaping teaspoon in a cup and half of boiling water, stirred and began sipping it out of my coffee thermos.

The symptoms that onset were really uncomfortable. General scary neurological sensations but then it mostly manifested into waves of anxiety down through my body.

I relieved it some by pumping 10 pound dumb bells to burn off the energy, but the discomfort and anxiety kept comming.

It was definitly the Matcha tea, 1300 times stronger than I read in certain ingredient.

Think I'll stick to the grocery store brands.

Herbs are unregulated, so be careful people. Just a side note, the drug companies get a lot of their ingredients from herbal plants, so you are dealing with an open raw source of material and there is no way to tell the strength.

Comments for Matcha Tea and Caffeine - A Horror Story

I have a mild form of epilepsy, which has been successfully controlled now for 20 yrs by medication. But lately I have been having what I call night episodes, my limbs will jerk when I am trying to drop off to sleep.( I havent slept in 5 nights).

Thinking it was my epilepsy I could only put this down to stress, over christmas etc. But have noticed these symptoms since I have changed my green tea brand. From Asda extra special to Clipper with ginseng!! I wonder could this be the cause?

I only have approximately 2 to 3 mugs a day, and never at night, but possibly I am more subseptible to the effects due to the epilepsy.

How frightening every night time is. I have now had my last cup of green tea!

Jan 24, 2011

Matcha overloadby: Anonymous

You're only supposed to have 1/4 teaspoon.

Jun 22, 2011

Read up on it first!by: Anonymous

You need to prepare matcha properly. Only a small amount is required. No wonder you felt like that! Would you take medication without reading the instructions?!

Nov 13, 2011

Heaped teaspoon!?by: Anonymous

You probably had 6-8 times the "dose". Japanese people use a small bamboo spoon per cup which probably works out 1/4 or less of a tsp.

I practically overdosed on coffee once and thought I was losing my mind, it was scary, I was actually paranoid. Caffeine can be a hard drug when abused.

Feb 14, 2013

Amount takenby: Alex

I have just come across Matcha. But each person who has advised levels has said ONLY a 1/4 teaspoon after a month. Prior to that less than a 1/4 in Juice or milk so the body gets used to the tea.NEVER NEVER NEVER a heaped teaspoon. Just because it is a herb does not mean it is dangerous. All medicine started out as herbs !!!!!!!

Apr 30, 2014

Not that badby: Christian

I don't know what brand you guys are drinking or the quality but I've always gotten my tea from either doMatcha or o-cha.com. With that said I'm addicted to Matcha and I use it in all kinds of ways from flavouring my protein powder, matcha lattes, or straight up take a big heaping teaspoon and pour hot water and whisk it with my bamboo whisk (that's the traditional way). I'm very sensitive to caffeine so that's why I choose to drink tea instead of coffee but like I said I use heaping teaspoons but I've never had jitters or the sensation the author described. There is an amino acid in tea called theanine to balance the effects of the caffeine, so to speak. Give matcha a second chance and get it from a reputable source like the ones I mentioned. It's not a drug it's valuable powdered leaves that when you acquire a taste for it is absolutely addicting. It also has all the other good stuff that any Google search will tell you about. If you do decide to try it make sure you find out the source because of the whole Fukushima thing. My sleuthing has lead me to the conclusion that tea from the Uji and Nishio regions are the safest and least likely to contain radiation above natural levels.

Jul 25, 2016

Choose carefullyby: Anonymous

You must buy Japanese matcha. Some Chinese matcha is known to have lead in it and other pollutants. Do not drink too much of anything.

Sep 20, 2016

How much matcha in a servingby: Anonymous

You overloaded your matcha!

An actual serving is only 1/2 Level teaspoon per cup. A heaping teaspoon is like 4 servings. So of course you upped what should have been only 20gm of caffeine to about 100, same as a cup of coffee.

Also because Matcha has low level caffeine, you should cut it off by 4-5pm, unless you are going out late. Drinking any tea, unless its herbal or decaf at 8:30pm will certainly keep you awake.